


Lipstick stains on my shirt (yours, don't you remember?)

by chrysallis_thenum



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Chuck Clayton Being an Asshole, Kissing, Kissing in a supermarket, M/M, Making Out, Mutual Pining, Pining, Reggie Mantle Being an Asshole, jughead is dolled up, jughead is soft, sweet pea is whipped
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:48:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29356731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chrysallis_thenum/pseuds/chrysallis_thenum
Summary: Jughead is all dolled up, courtesy of Toni, and Sweet Pea is so, so fucking whipped.
Relationships: Jughead Jones/Sweet Pea
Comments: 15
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Never on a School Night](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20202841) by [Gaffsie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaffsie/pseuds/Gaffsie). 



> This fic started by me wanting to draw Jughead in a sheer/mesh top and that was inspired by Never on a School Night by Gaffsie (um, I dont know how to link it here??). This was supposed to be just about 5k so i dont know how this became this long lmao. 
> 
> And uh, i have the visual for this, just Jughead, that started this whole thing. I’ll link it and Gaffsie’s work at the end cause I dont know how to link here. Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic started by me wanting to draw Jughead in a sheer/mesh top and that was inspired by Never on a School Night by Gaffsie (um, I dont know how to link it here??). This was supposed to be just about 5k so i dont know how this became this long lmao. 
> 
> And uh, i have the visual for this, just Jughead, that started this whole thing. I’ll link it and Gaffsie’s work at the end cause I dont know how to link here. Enjoy!

Jughead thinks it’s really fucked up how much he lets Toni get away with, and he knows he lets her. During a game of truth or dare with some other serpents the other night when it had been his turn, he had chosen, after careful consideration of pros and cons, dare, to which Toni immediately followed up with the filthiest grin on her face with “well, Jones, I dare you to be my mannequin for a day.” The other serpents hooted and smirked, and Fangs, who was next to him, nudged Jughead’s shoulder with his elbow and said, “good luck. She did this with me and Sweet Pea, too.” Frankly, Jughead did not know what was going on. He would, soon. 

So here Jughead is, at 10 a.m., in Thistlehouse sitting on a ridiculously plush velvet chair, Toni with a smirk and her hands on her hips. She looks like she’s currently plotting a White House heist. Not good, Jughead thinks as he feels his palms slightly moisten on top of his jeans. It isn’t like Toni had terrible style. No, quite the opposite – Toni was one of the best dressers Jughead knows, but the clothes she wears aren’t exactly what Jughead would eye in a shop. Crop tops, fishnet tops, fishnet stockings, more fishnets, shorts, no. And it isn’t like Jughead has _massive_ body issues either, but just because Jughead doesn't get hung up every time he looks into a mirror doesn’t really mean he’s exactly comfortable with wearing what Toni does. She looks hot in it, don’t get Jughead wrong, but he doesn’t think _he_ would look good in it. 

Toni, noticing Jughead’s nerves, probably from his shifty eyes, pursed lips, and stiff posture, smiles (sympathetically, he’d like to think, at least) and says, “calm down, Jones. You’re not walking out in a bra and skinny jeans.” 

Jughead lets out a laugh and relaxes. He looks at her shared closet with Cheryl. “Gee, that really calms me down,” he looks back at her. “No fishnets,”

Toni sighs and slumps her back. “Jones! I already had the perfect outfit with some fishnet stockings.” 

He lets out a nervous laugh and shakes his head. Thank God he cut _that_ plan off. 

She sighs again and throws her arms up before turning to walk towards her closet. She spends a second going through some clothes, nothing he can see from where he was sitting, but she keeps glancing back at him whenever she finds something she liked. She does end up pulling something out, a black sleeveless top and throwing it onto her bed and, after some consideration, what looks like a white sheer top as well. 

Jughead narrows his eyes on the second piece. “Is that lace?”

Toni, who was already walking to a duffel bag next to the bed, scoffs and probably rolling her eyes. “It’s mesh.” She unzips the bag and pulls out its contents. Pants and shoes, turns out, about five pairs of each. She glances at him again, then at the two tops she pulled out. Then she rolls up all of the pants except one up and puts them back into the bag. It’s, from what Jughead can tell, long dark grey jeans. She leaves the shoes out and turns back to him.

She has a satisfied smile. “Strip. Your beanie, too,” was the only thing she said to him. 

Jughead stands up, hands on his jacket and eyes on Toni. He raises his eyebrows at her, and she sighs and turns around. Now, he begins to take off his clothes.

“I heard this is tradition,” he says. He’s currently pulling his black shirt off his back. 

“Yep,” he sees her nod. “Started in eight grade when this boy joined the Serpents. We were playing truth or dare then, too, and Fangs, who had a thing for him, suggested he dressed up in my clothes. I did. They ended up dating that day. After that I did the same to Fangs, then Sweet Pea, then to all the boys who joined.”

Jughead’s now shimmying out of his jeans, and his socks are coming off along with it. “Just the guys?” 

Toni chuckles, “yeah. A lot of the Serpent girls dress like I do, so it’s more interesting when the boys do it. Besides, we’ve been conditioned to consider feminine things are lesser than masculine things, so males in women’s clothing is just funny. Gender roles, and all that shit, you know?”

Jughead scoffs. He was now fully naked, save for his boxers. “Okay, I’m done.” 

She turns around, takes a second to look at him, then slides the tops and the jeans to him. “The grey one goes first, then the sheer one over it. Tuck it in the jeans.”

He holds up the black top, a sleeveless top, before putting his arms and head through it. It was a snug fit, which was obvious since Jughead’s torso was wider than Toni’s, but considering the fact that she has a bust and he doesn’t, it isn’t that bad a stretch. It cuts off just above his belly button, which, if he was going to be walking around with his stomach exposed all day, he really wasn’t up for it. 

“Hey, Toni, don’t you have, I don’t know, shirts that cover my belly?”

She crosses her arms and cocks a hip, “don’t worry, Jug. You’ll be wearing high-waisted pants.”

Jughead has never heard that before, but from the literal meaning of “high-wasted pants”, he’s willing to bet his pants will cover whatever this top isn’t. So he shrugged and slid his arms through the sheer white top next, one by one. It was tight on his chest but puffed up around his shoulders and the top half of his arms, which was where the sleeves ended with a tight, stretchy band, like a hair band. Jughead feels ridiculous, and says as much to Toni, who was now sitting on the edge of the Queen bed.

Toni rolls her eyes, “that’s because you haven’t finished. But you look good, Jones. Really brings out your shoulders and waist.”

Jughead mumbles, “whatever.” Then goes to wear the jeans. It’s dark grey and does, in fact, cover up his belly. It goes a lot higher than his jeans usually does, but he’s seen Cheryl and Toni wear similar jeans, those he notices really shape their waist and hips a lot. This one is loose around his calves and cut off an inch below his ankles. He tucks the white material into it, doesn’t know if he did it right, but he guesses Toni’ll fix him up anyway. 

“How did you even get jeans my size? In one day, too,”

Toni shrugs, “I borrowed from Fangs and Kevin. That one you’re wearing’s Kevin’s.”

He shoots her a confused look, “Kevin wears exclusively skinny jeans.”

“Yeah, he did say those were an old pair. Also said you can keep it if you like it.” 

Jughead doesn’t respond, just zips the pants up. He puts his arms out and looks at her, like he really was a mannequin she just dressed. He cocks an eyebrow, “well? How weird is it?”

Toni comes over to smooth over the shirt and jeans, which involves some awkward hands under his pants and avoiding her eyes and telling her her hands were too close for comfort. Once finished, she looks at him up and down with a smile then looks at him, “it looks great on you, Jones. One of my best so far, if I do say so myself.” 

He scoffs and turns to look at himself in the mirror. It was a weird sight to see, him not in an old shirt and his usual jeans. Right now, he was wearing a tight shirt and a style of jeans he’s never even heard of. The pants he’s wearing, something about where on his waist starts, is giving his body a shape, as if he isn’t built like a skinny box. Not to mention the absolutely ridiculous sheer – mesh, was that what Toni said? – white top. All puffy sleeves and all. Veronica would laugh at his face and take 20 photos afterwards if she sees him in this. So he hopes he doesn’t meet her today. 

He turns back to Toni. “It looks good, right?” She says, an eyebrow raised. She stands up and tells him to sit on the bed. He does and she brings his legs up, then she folds up the hems of his pants. When she’s done, they now cut off about three inches above his ankles. She then looks at the shoes she’s laid out earlier. A black and white Vans pair, a pair of black and red Doc Martens, a pair of old chunky white sneakers, and a pair of white tennis shoes. 

“I think either Docs would look good,” she says. “Classic black or a pop of cherry red. The chunky sneakers would look good, too.” She looks at him, “what do you think, Jones?”

Jughead raises his eyebrows at her. How would he know? He wears the same pair of boots every day. Before he even opens his mouth to give his likely useless input, Toni claps her hands and thrusts the red Docs to him, a glint in her eyes and her lips curls into a smirk.

“A nice pop of sexy red,” she says. 

Once Jughead finishes lacing up the boots, which oddly fit him well, he stays seated, waiting for whatever Toni has up for him next, which he knows there is because Toni’s still got that calculating glint behind her smirk and crossed arms. Slowly, she stands up from the bed and stalks over to him, like a predator creeping up on its prey, who already has it on its sights. Like she’s playing with him, he thinks dramatically. So Toni’s not about to eat him whole like a snake, but she sure looks like she’s got some devious plans in mind for him. 

Which was confirmed when she opened her mouth. “Jug, how do you feel about wearing makeup?” 

Jughead pulls his eyebrows together and frowns, “makeup?”

“What,” she teases. “Too manly for makeup? Afraid to be called girly, Jones?” 

Jughead just sighs, but doesn’t say anything else because he knows Toni will get into her lecture about the gender rules and patriarchy looking down on men in makeup, which is _apparently_ a “girl thing”. He knows, and he really doesn’t care about men in makeup, but it’s just not his thing. It’s way too high maintenance and not to mention the ten other products needed to take care of his skin after taking it off. 

“Knock yourself out, Toni,” he just says, slumping in his chair and resigned to whatever fate Toni’s deciding for him. 

She lets out a small giggle before rushing to wash her hands and scurry over, hands already scrambling into drawers and over products. She pulls out some products and some brushes. She starts out by whipping out a small blade to shave off some of his brows, which are apparently messy disasters. Jesus, _boys_ , she mutters under her breath. When she’s done, she moves to primer, whatever that is. She rubs it all over Jughead’s face and when he opens his eyes it doesn’t really seem to do much, other than making his skin a little glowy. Then she poures some skin-coloured liquid on him, little drops all over, before beating him with a big brush. He holds back his grunts and tries not to scrunch his face up too much because when he did, Toni scolded him. She moves to using some gel on his brows, which, okay, looks a lot neater now and his skin’s looking a lot better than it usually does. After that she tells him to close his eyes, which she follows up with a wet, cold, thing on his eyelids. 

He startles, which Toni jerked her hand back to. “What the fuck?” He hisses.

“It’s eyeliner, Jones,” she shows him the felt pen (?) she was holding. It’s shaped like those calligraphy brushes he’d seen on the internet, and was dark brown. “I’m not gonna poke your eye out, calm down.”

He narrows his eyes but eventually closes them again, trying not to flinch when he feels the wet texture on his eyes again. Then he feels her patting his eyelids, which is such a weird feeling, first of all. Once he feels her finishing with both his eyes, he opens them. In the mirror, he can see a wash of pink all over his eyelids and a little line at the end of both his eyes and his eyes looking a little wider. He looks at her, confused. 

“What on earth did you do?” 

She just smiles as she closes the pen (??) back and simply says, “Magic.” 

He looks back at the mirror again and scoffs, “you can say that again.” 

“Okay, look at me again,” she has a small contraption in her hand now. “Look down and don’t freak out.”

“What?” 

Before he can ask what she means by _that_ ambiguous statement, she brings that contraption to his eyes and with her other hand, holds his head in place. He still flinches, though, because what the fuck is that thing about to eat his eyelids off? 

“Don’t freak out?” He hisses as he brings his hand in front of his face. “You’re gonna cut my eyes out!”

Toni sighs and holds out the machine in front of her. “This is a lash curler. Nobody’s getting hurt if you don’t move suddenly, Jones.” 

He glares at her and the curler in her hands, “is that really necessary?”

“Well your lashes aren’t that curled so when I use the mascara on you it won’t look as good,” 

Jughead wants to argue for how about _not_ do anything unnecessary that could potentially make Jughead bleed, but Toni gives him a look as to remind him today was all on her and if he wanted to be hurt, she would hurt him anyway. So he keeps his mouth shut and just clenches his shivering fists on his thighs as he feels the curler press down on his lashes, and it takes him all his willpower to not jerk back. When she was done, Toni pulls back with a soft smile and tells him “good job.” Then she puts the curler down and picks up something else, mascara she says. She combs it through his lashes and when she’s done he sees his eyes have become darker than usual and the green in his pupils seems to be brighter than he’s ever seen it before. Which is, wow, okay, that does look good.

Toni then grabs something else, contour, and swipes it on his jaw, under his cheeks, and his nose and beats him with the big brush again, followed up by another beating after swiping some red stuff on his cheekbones. When he looks at the mirror, his cheeks are slightly red, is the first thing he notices, but also his jawline seems a lot more defined and so are his cheekbones. You know what, he doesn’t look half bad. Toni doesn’t look like she’s done yet, but even with just this Jughead already looks a lot healthier and pretty, if he must say. His skin is glowing slightly, and the red on his cheeks are giving him a nice flush to his otherwise pale face, not to mention whatever she did to make his bone structure look way more prominent than they actually are. And now that he’s looking closer, the pink on his eyes has glitter as well, which was interesting to see while rotating his head side to side. 

He hears Toni chuckle and a ‘pop’. When he turns to her again, she was holding a tube of something pink. “You like it? I tried to do a simple, no-makeup look. You already have that cute sad boy thing going on, so I thought some dewy skin and blush would make you look even better.” 

He hums, nodding at her, “not bad, Toni. I might grow to like it, actually.” 

She chuckles, “good. Cause you look pretty like this, Jones. Now open your mouth.” 

He does, and she rubs the pink stuff all over his lips. When he looks, his lips are more dusty red than pink, and it’s a little darker than its usual colour. It did make them look bigger than they actually are, too, which goes well with the rest of his face. 

“Done,” Toni announces, all happy and clapping her hands. She has a big smile and was looking at him up and down. “Jug, you look so good. This really is my best yet. You know what, that messy hair of yours fit really well. I don’t even think I need to do anything to it.” 

He smiles. Toni looks like she’s having fun and he actually likes his look – the makeup, the outfit he still needs a minute to get used to and probably longer to even begin liking. 

“Okay, now I’m gonna change, then we’ll levae. I’m fucking starving,” she groans. Jughead turns around, making sure to avoid the mirror. “Hey, text Sweet Pea and Fangs to meet us at Pop’s in half an hour.” 

He checks his phone. It’s 11.28 a.m. and really is time for lunch. His stomach groans with the realisation, to which he hears Toni chuckle. Jughead says, “sure.” And texts the group chat. 

_‘Pop’s in 30.’_

Not even a minute after, Sweet Pea answers, _‘sure.’_

And oh God, he’s going to be in public like this, Jughead remembers. With this ridiculous puffy white thing, with his cheeks flushed and his eyes all glittery and big, without his beanie. God, how is Sweet Pea and Fangs going to react? Laugh? Make fun of him? He _knows_ Sweet Pea’s not gonna shut up about it for at least two hours, laugh at him and ridicule him. And that’s probably not a good experience from a boy Jughead’s just starting to take interest in. Now he’s nervous, fiddling his fingers in an attempt to do something and not think about Sweet Pea saying Jughead’s the stupidest thing he’ll see all day. 

“Hey,” Jughead startles out of his thoughts when Toni speaks. She’s in a muted red short skirt and black bralette under a pink and black plaid shirt. She’s wearing a silver chain necklace and her camera around her neck and a pair of heeled black boots. She has a black bag slung over her shoulders. She’s looking at him with a concerned frown and furrowed brows. “You good?” 

He sighs and stands up, “yeah, yeah. Just thinking of Pop’s burgers.” He chuckles, which seems to relax Toni. “Hey, can I keep my beanie in your bag?”

She nods and takes it from him. As she’s putting it in her bag, she looks at him again. Jughead thinks she’s about to press, even though Toni never does unless it’s absolutely necessary, but she just nods at him and says, “I think you should wear some rings.” 

She walks over to the dressing table again and rummages for a second before pulling out four silver rings she slips on his fingers. Toni smiles at him, nodding at the door. 

“Perfect,” she says. 

They head out, after Toni says goodbye to Rose Blossom who’s in the living room watching some cooking show, and mounted their respective bikes. Jughead thinks it’ll be a little cold riding without his jacket, but it’ll only be a less than ten minute ride to Pop’s, so he should be able to stand that much. They put on their helmets and ride out. 

It’s a short ride to Pop’s even though Thistlehouse is the farthest estate from Pop’s in the Northside. When they pull up to the parking lot, he sees two other bikes next to them. Sweet Pea and Fangs are already there. Toni takes off her helmet, shakes her head and lets her hair bounce over her back. She looks at him, eyebrow cocked and a corner of her lips curved slightly. 

“Let’s go,”

He looks at her with the same nerves settling back in his stomach, and it must have shown on his face because Toni softens and takes his hand in hers. “I feel ridiculous, Toni. What if people just–” he sighs and leaves it at that, looking down to his hands instead. 

“Hey, Jug. Look at me,” she whispers as her thumbs rubs the back of his hands in an attempt to calm him down. He does glance at her, not before looking at the diner for a second. “You look great, Jug. Trust me. I know this is out of your comfort zone, but believe me, you look fucking hot.” He smiles a little. “And if anyone tries to make fun of you, I’ll kick their asses. The guys will, too.”

Jughead bites the inside of his cheek, not wanting to say that the boys are part of the group of people he did not want even sending him a sarcastic smile. But he just smiles and nods at Toni. Her face lights back up as she pulls him into Pop’s. 

When Pop looks up at them to welcome them, he pauses as he takes a second look at Jughead. “Jughead?”

Jughead just gives him a tight smile and says, while clapping Toni’s shoulder, “all her, Pop. I’ve become her boy-toy for the day.” 

Toni laughs, “doesn’t he just look good, Pop?” 

Pop gives his good natured chuckle and nods, “yeah. Never seen you with that before, Jug.” 

He lets out a sarcastic chuckle, “yeah, and you never will again.” He reaches up to tug at his beanie but his hands touch nothing but his exposed hair. Suddenly he feels the need to curl smaller after all. 

Pop smiles and nods to their usual booth in the back, “your friends are already here.”

Toni nods and turns to Sweet Pea and Fangs. Sweet Pea is sitting away from the door and Fangs, both wearing their distinguishable leathers, is right across him and was already looking at Jughead and Toni. He waved when he met Toni’s eyes. “Sweet. Thanks, Pop.” She smiles and goes to the boys with Jughead right behind her. 

Jughead looks at Fangs, sees him look at Jughead and the way his eyes widen and his eyebrows shoot up and his smile widens. Jughead feels himself blush at the reaction, and right after Sweet Pea turns suddenly. When Sweet Pea sees him, he does a double take with his eyes wide and his mouth slightly opened. Well, at least he isn’t going to bully Jughead about it. He catches himself before reaching up to touch his head and just fists his hands by his side instead. 

Toni throws a “hey,” at the boys when she gets to the table and sits next to Sweet Pea. By default, Jughead goes to sit next to Fangs. 

He gives a smile as he looks at Fangs and Sweet Pea, even though he’s fisting his hands under the table in anticipation of them breaking into mean laughs. “Hey,” he says, looking down to the table. 

“Shit, Jones,” he hears Fangs say next to him, all excited and smiley like he usually is, “you look pretty hot.” 

Jughead gives a small laugh and turns to look at Fangs, whose body was now turned to him and his arm slung around Jughead’s headrest. “Thanks, Fangs. I feel stupid, but thanks.” 

Fangs shakes his head, “are you kidding me? You look fucking hot.” He turns to Sweet Pea, now smiling suggestively, “what do you think, Sweets?”

Jughead looks at Sweet Pea, who was still staring at him with wide eyes, though is that a blush Jughead sees? He flinches and the colour on his face deepens as he straightens his back. His eyes dart to Fangs with furrowed brows and a frown, like Fangs had just stabbed him in the back or something. It was only for a second, though, and he’s back to focusing on Jughead, who was now feeling himself blush again under his attention. Fangs jerks his leg back and laughs suddenly, like his leg was hit under the table. 

Sweet Pea looks at his eyes, then his lips, his chest, his shoulders, then back at his face again. He licks his lips before pursing them, nodding. “Yeah. Not too bad, Jones.”

Jughead smiles at him, feeling his nerves go down. He squirms in his seat and crosses his arms on the table. He says a quiet, “thanks,” before Pop comes over with for their orders. Jughead looks away, to Pop, and orders his regular burger and fries set and chocolate milkshake, which his friends also order with different variants. 

Fangs immediately spoke up after Pop left. He turns to Toni and says, “you made Jones look so good, it’s not fair! You put me in a stupid tight dress for an entire night. Sweet Pea got a tank top and hot pants. Jones actually looks _good_.”

Toni rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, “look at him. Do you think I could make him less than hot?”

Jughead chuckles, “what is that supposed to mean?”

“Toni usually purposely puts us in weird fits,” Fangs says. “But look at you. And–” he gets close to Jughead’s face, “–is that makeup?” 

“Fuck off, Fangs,” Toni rolls her eyes. “If you wanted me to doll you up you should have just asked me.”

Fangs scrunches his nose and shakes his head, “no thanks, I’m good.” He looks back at Jughead, nodding appreciatively, “shit, Jones, I might be falling for you now.”

Jughead laughs, running his hand through his hair nervously. It was weird to be out and exposed without his beanie, to reach up to his head and not feel it comfortably there. He quickly brings his hands back down to the table to clench again, looking down to hide from Fangs’ gaze. 

“What, you like pretty boys now?” Sweet Pea speaks up, suddenly, after being quiet for a while now. He had an edge to his voice, even though it sounds like he was coming off as joking. 

Jughead snaps up at him, blushing before he could help it. Did Sweet Pea just call him _pretty_? 

Fangs must have heard it, too, since he started grinning. He brings his hand down from the armrest to around Jughead’s shoulders and pulls him until Jughead’s pressed against Fangs’ chest. He raised an eyebrow at Sweet Pea with a teasing smirk on his lips. “And if I do? What are you gonna do, Sweets?”

Toni snorts and glances at Jughead who just shoots her a confused look. Sweet Pea, though, narrows his eyes at Fangs and presses his lips into a thin line. He glares at him and Fangs raises his chin in response, like they were having some silent conversation Jughead isn’t privy to. 

In the end, after all that glaring, Sweet Pea just huffs and says, “whatever,” and stares out the window mindlessly, still glaring. 

Jughead was confused, obviously. What the fuck was that about? Why the hell did Sweet Pea act so upset over Fangs? What, does he have a crush on Fangs?

That thought puts an uncomfortable feeling in Jughead’s stomach, because then Jughead is going to have to get over whatever feelings he was beginning to feel for Sweet Pea before he gets his heart broken. He watches Sweet Pea glare at something in the parking lot, brows pulled tightly, jaws clenched, and lips pursed. Jughead swallows a little and unconsciously slumps in Fang’s hold. 

“Aw, Jones, you like me too, huh?” He hears Fangs say next to him, teasing him and all. He feels Fang’s hand that was on his shoulder rub his arm up and down and bring him closer to him, which Jughead had to physically shuffle his entire body closer to Fangs to. 

“Jesus, Fangs,” Jughead mutters, feeling embarrassed with all this physical contact. He isn’t one to like being touched so much like this, but Fangs is stronger than him, and his one arm is as big as Jughead’s two. So squirm all he wants, Fangs would need to release his hold on him for Jughead to get away. So he resigns to being practically folded into Fangs’ chest for now. 

Jughead glances at Sweet Pea. He’s got his chin on his hand and he’s frowning. He’s still glaring at whatever is outside but he takes the occasional second to turn his mean stares to Fangs. Jughead sees Sweet Pea sneaking a look at him, though, once, but he flinches and flushes when he meets Jughead’s eyes. Jughead thinks even the tips of Sweet Pea’s ears may have been a little red. 

Sweet Pea nudges Toni and grumbles, “get up, I gotta go piss.” 

They watch Sweet Pea shuffle away to behind a wall, hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket. Toni, now sliding into Sweet Pea’s seat in the inside the booth, stares at Fangs with that look of hers that resemble a mother about to scold her two rowdy kids. 

“Fuck off, Fangs,” she says, sounding exasperated. She has an eyebrow raised and her lips both pursed and tilted at a corner. It was Toni’s _look_. 

Fangs just chuckles at her and shrugs, “you can’t tell me you didn’t set this whole fucking thing up, Toni. You’re having fun, too. Don’t fucking lie to me.” 

Toni shrugs and leans back, smiling at Fangs and then at Jughead. Okay, this is getting weird. It’s like they’re in on something Jughead’s completely clueless on, which is getting on his nerves now. It feels like he’s the butt of the joke and the worse part is he doesn’t even know what’s going on. He reaches up to grab at his beanie and when he grasps at nothing, he remembers he doesn’t have it with him and instead fists his hands on top of his thighs.

He frowns up at Fangs, who was _still_ holding him. “What’s going on?” 

Fangs looks and smiles at him. He pats Jughead’s arm two more times before letting go and says, “don’t worry about, Jones.”

Jughead continues staring at Fangs, confused and annoyed. He opens his mouth to speak, but is cut off by Pop’s and one of his employees coming over and placing their food on the table. He shoots Fangs and Toni one last glare before thanking Pop’s and the woman with him and digs into his burger. For now, Jughead can ignore whatever joke Toni and Fangs were grinning about, ignore Sweet Pea’s reaction to Fangs hugging (?) Jughead, ignore the fact that he’s feeling way more exposed than he would like with this getup and without his beanie. So he eats his burger, sips his milkshake, eats three fries at a time, sometimes dunks his fires in his milkshake. 

“What the fuck, Jones?” He looks up at Toni, who was looking at him with pure disgust with her face scrunched up. 

Jughead shrugs, knowing she’s referring to him dipping his fries in his milkshake. Archie and Betty are used to it after growing up with him and watching him dip entire fries in milkshakes and ice cream. Veronica smiled and nodded the first time she saw him do it, then followed his gesture. Finally, someone else with taste, she had said. To be honest, Jughead’s surprised his Serpent friends had never seen him dip his fries before, considering he does it all the time. 

He hears Pop’s bell _ding_ and he sees a flash of blue and yellow at the corner of his eyes, and for a second he thinks it’s Archie coming in and Jughead has the sudden urge to curl under the table to hide from him before Archie comes over and asks questions on what the fuck Jughead is wearing and why the fuck is he wearing makeup? 

But then he realises it’s Reggie Mantle and Chuck Clayton and the feeling of nervousness churns into pure dread because fuck, fuck, fuck, Reggie’s going to pull him out of his chair by his hair and call him a slur and Chuck’s going take pictures he’s going to distribute throughout the whole school. Now, more than ever, he wishes he has his beanie for him to pull over his head and face and just hide from their eyes. Or at least he could have sat on Fangs’ side of the booth so he can just hide behind Fangs’ big shoulders. 

Toni must have sensed Jughead’s tension because she turns to see what he was staring at and when she sees Reggie and Chuck, Jughead swears he sees her hackles rise. 

Reggie notices him. Of course he would, Pop’s is a small diner and Reggie’s looking around for a booth anyway. But it doesn’t help Jughead’s stomach dropping the moment Reggie’s eyes settle on him and recognition and confusion flash in them and his face twists into something ugly. He watches Reggie pat Chuck’s arm and walk towards him, Chuck now following with a mean smirk of his own. 

“You into this now, huh?” Reggie sneers once he’s standing next to their table. “Always knew you were a freak, Jones, but _this_?” He scoffs and shakes his head in mock disbelief

“If you wanted to be a bitch you should’ve came to me, Jones,” Chuck joins. He places his hands on the edge of the table and leans in closer to Jughead. “I’ve never done boys before but seeing you like this,” he clicks his tongue and leers at him up and down, “I wouldn’t mind at all.”

And that twists his stomach in absolute _disgust_ and he can’t stop himself from flinching away from him. He bumps into Fangs, who he can hear is _heaving_ , and feeling something warm makes him feel just a little bit better.

Jughead hears Toni sigh exasperatedly, “just fuck off, guys.”

He finally looks at up them – glares – and snaps at Chuck, “that’s bold. Have you even pleasured a single girl? One step at a time, Chuck.” 

Reggie barks a laugh and slaps Chuck’s back. “Are you gonna take that, Clayton?”

Chuck’s smirk twists into a mean frown and his nostrils flare, getting mad like Jughead knew he would. He lashes out and grabs Jughead’s white shirt just below the white collar, and with Chuck’s strength Jughead’s pulled up from his seat. Jughead keeps his eyes on Chuck’s angry ones because if he’s going to get beaten up, Jughead isn’t about to cower away from it. Jughead can feel the thin shirt about to give under such a tight grip, and he hopes it doesn’t rip because it’s not even his and he doesn’t want to ruin Toni’s shirt. 

“Shit!” Jughead hears Fangs hiss behind him, then a shuffle that he guesses is Fangs trying to slide out the booth. 

Neither Fangs nor Chuck didn’t get a chance to do anything, though, because Chuck is pulled back and his hold on Jughead breaks in the momentum, causing Jughead to drop and he almost falls onto the floor if it wasn’t for his instinct to reach back to hold the chair or the table or whatever is behind him. 

Sweet Pea is towering over Chuck, his signature angry frown on his face. But he’s got this look in his eyes that looks like he’s contemplating murder, a step up from his regular scowl. He’s got Chuck’s shirt in his hands and Chuck takes a second to find balance in Sweet Pea’s grasp. 

Sweet Pea glares down at Chuck and almost growls out, “what the fuck are you doing to him?” 

Reggie steps up looking like he’s about to throw a punch at Sweet Pea, and Toni and Fangs jump to their feet immediately. Jughead stands awkwardly, because they’re inside Pop’s and he’s not about to break into a fight in front of poor Pop. 

Reggie pulls Chuck out of Sweet Pea’s grip and steps up right in front of him, almost chest to chest to male posture the way Reggie always does. But with Sweet Pea, Sweet Pea’s bigger than him, taller and broader and his glare’s meaner, so Reggie’s the one who has to look up, which always makes Reggie angrier since he’s got a complex like all the other fucking jocks in school. Reggie’s always smaller when it’s Sweet Pea he’s up against and it makes him puff his chest a little bigger and straighten his shoulders a little wider. His attempts are always futile, though, since Sweet Pea always responds by closing the distance and just presses his entire body on Reggie and that makes him look even bigger. 

They stare at each other for a second, fucking posturing. Before anything could happen Pop comes over, worried and scared, the poor man. When Jughead looks around, the other customers in the diner are staring at them and whispering, some even taking pictures or videos. 

“Hey kids,” Pop says softly. “Please sit down. Reggie, Chuck, stop bothering these kids and let’s order you lunch.” 

Sweet Pea glowers at Reggie, “you better fuck off before I mess up your face.” 

Reggie glares at Sweet Pea for a second before looking at Pop, then pulls back with a huff. He sneers at them all then turns, “Whatever. These serpent trash are gonna leave soon anyway.” 

Chuck sends them a glare too before turning away. But he doesn’t get a step further before Sweet Pea grabs his shoulder again and turns him to them. 

“The fuck you think you’re going?” Sweet Pea scowls. “After that shit you said to Jones. Fucking apologise or I’ll take you outside, Clayton. Nobody to stop us there.”

Chuck furrows his brows at him, then looks at Jughead, who’s still just awkwardly standing behind Toni’s protective stance. Which is a pretty funny sight considering Toni’s like, half Jughead’s height, but it’s the thought that counts, he supposes. Also Toni can throw a mean punch any day anyway.

When Chuck does nothing else, Sweet Pea clenches his grip on his shoulder. “Well?” 

Chuck barely shakes himself out of Sweet Pea’s grip, and faces Jughead. Toni stands straighter in front of Jughead. Chuck sighs and averts his eyes. “Sorry, Jones. Shitty thing for me to say.” 

Jughead stares and nods. He knows it’s a shitty apology and he doesn’t mean it but he just wants Chuck and Reggie to go the fuck away so they can go back to their food and keep all this attention they’re getting away.

Sweet Pea shoves him one last time to let his hold go. Chuck almost stumbles back, but catches himself and walks away with one last glare thrown over his shoulder. 

When Chuck and Reggie finally sit in a booth at the other side of the diner they finally relax. Toni sighs and steps away from Jughead to go back to her seat, Fangs huffs and pats Sweet Pea’s back before sliding back into his seat. Sweet Pea physically deflates when he turns to look at Jughead up and down, like he’s checking for any injuries he might have gotten. Sweet Pea lands his eyes just below Jughead’s collar, where Chuck had gripped him, and reaches out to smooth the fabric over. He steps back with pursed lips, looks at Jughead one more time, then sits down next to Toni. Jughead looks down and feels his face heat up, but then remembers he’s the only one standing like an idiot, so he quickly sits down. Sweet Pea was now in front of him, munching on a fry without looking at Jughead. 

“Fucking assholes,” Toni hisses. 

“Wish we could have beat them up,” Fangs says. 

Sweet Pea, who Jughead had expected to follow up with a string of curses, just huffs once and just mixes his chocolate milkshake mindlessly. Jughead stares at him through his lashes, not wanting to be caught staring, hiding the blush he can feel starting to creep up to his face and the light flutter in his chest because Sweet Pea had stood up for him, protected him. 

Jughead startles when he feels something nudge his foot. Then he sees Sweet Pea flinch a little, just tenses his shoulders, but sees him redden to the tips of his ears and shoots Jughead a glance of his own under his lashes. Next to them, Jughead hears Fangs and Toni let out a little snort. Sweet Pea narrows his eyes at Fangs and there was an audible bumping noise from under the table and, from the way Fang’s scrunches his face up immediately with an “ow,”, it must have been Sweet Pea kicking Fang’s leg in return. 

They return to eating and talking about whatever topics come up, and Jughead finds himself stealing more and more glances at Sweet Pea, who does the same. Jughead spends the rest of the day with giddy warmth in his chest, because maybe it isn’t Fangs Sweet Pea’s having feelings for, because Sweet Pea looks very nice when he blushes to the tips of his ears and it’s _Jughead_ that makes him blush. And whatever they want to happen, they’ll let it.

*******

[Never on a School Night](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20202841) by Gaffsie

[My visual for Jughead](https://chris-tang2001.tumblr.com/post/642838112530300928/jughead-in-a-sheermesh-top-for-my-fic-lipstick)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every time I look at this thing there’s always something wrong lmao. If there’s an error please tell me. I have no beta and for some reason I always miss something??
> 
> To be honest this was only supposed to be one chapter but then I got tempted to write a Sweet Pea pov. So while this chapter is in Jughead’s pov, the next is in Sweet Pea’s. It’s not just his retelling of what happened in this chapter, but there’s additional action lmao.
> 
> This is my first non-pwp so it might be a little awkward?? I feel like the second chapter’s a little better and this one was so action-focused? Idk please comment how you liked this and leave a kudo 💕💕 anyway, thank you for even reading this :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sweet Pea falls in love the way he does everything else: recklessly, instantaneously, and with all his heart, for better or worse. 

Sweet Pea falls in love the way he does everything else: recklessly, instantaneously, and with all his heart, for better or worse.

Jughead Jones was unexpected. Jughead Jones, who had his Northside nose up like he was better than everyone else in the Southside. Jughead Jones, who came crawling to the Serpents with his tail tucked between his legs. Jughead Jones, who became irritatingly integral to the Serpents and, by proxy, to the teen Serpents. Jughead Jones, who wobbled over to Sweet Pea with his pretty face bloody and bruised. Jughead Jones, who still tries to see the good in people despite his experiences. Jughead Jones, who smiles with such softness and leads with such strength and intelligence. 

Jughead fucking Jones, of all people. 

Sweet Pea won’t lie, the first time he saw Jones he thought he was just a poncy Northside boy who thought he was too good for the rest of them while being FP’s son. He didn’t like him, but he couldn’t do anything to Jughead since he was his boss’ son. So he just snarled and snapped whenever Jughead talked and tried to squeeze himself into the gang, as if he even belonged there in the first place, as if he didn’t just join the Serpents a week ago to save his ass from Ghoulies. 

After a while, though, Sweet Pea started to _see_ Jones. Jones isn’t brass and action-driven like FP. Jughead is calculating and comes up with plans five steps ahead and with three other back-up plans. Jones is snarky enough to keep Sweet Pea on his toes, but empathetic enough to always put his members before him. Jones is smart in a way Sweet Pea rarely sees in a Serpent, and that was so fucking hot. 

It was after riot night that Sweet Pea finally came into terms with his growing feelings for Jones. Specifically when he saw him limp and drenched in his own blood in his father’s arms. First of all, anyone who’s willing to sacrifice himself for the Serpents is immediately good in Sweet Pea’s book, and Jughead, under that tortured artist image he’s got, is one of the most selfless people he knows; it’s actually quite concerning how much Jones’ willing to give and give and give for the people he loves and trusts, and from what Sweet Pea knows that led to a lot of disappointments and heartbreaks. 

But Sweet Pea already knew he was starting to trust Jones – Toni was, and Toni usually trusts the right people, so Sweet Pea and Fangs usually go along with her – so seeing him like that, half dead, really wrenched his gut in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time, not since seeing Toni getting beaten up to an inch within her life by her father when she was thirteen. Sweet Pea, already almost as tall as most of the adult Serpents at then, and Fangs returned him in kind, drove him away from Toni and Riverdale ever since. And back then, Sweet Pea liked Toni. In the way that he would light up whenever she skipped over to play and stared at her with dreamy eyes whenever she talked about a book she just finished reading and stuck to her like glue because Toni was a small girl, she still is, but she wasn’t tough back then and used to get picked on because she had said she likes kissing girls once (which broke Sweet Pea’s heart into little pieces and he cried to Fangs for the next week). 

And with Jones, Sweet Pea likes him that same way. Jones isn’t small, he’s half a head shorter than Sweet Pea, but he’s lithe and slender and can’t punch through a paper bag. He’s reckless and impulsive like Sweet Pea, but doesn’t have the muscles to back it up. Jones barks louder than he bites, and it worries the fuck out of Sweet Pea, because that can land someone in deep fucking trouble here in the Southside. And Jones really did need backup. Sweet Pea, Fangs, and Toni saw that when they were all kicked to Riverdale High and the first fucking day half the school ganged up on them, him, and almost gets his ass kicked more than Sweet Pea would like (zero. He’d like Jones to get his ass given to him zero times). 

So really, maybe Sweet Pea just has a thing for small intelligent people who need to be constantly protected. But Jones is clearly a small intelligent person who needs constant protection, so they work out, Sweet Pea supposes. 

Sweet Pea doesn’t actually know if Jughead likes him back. Last time he heard, Jones’ still hung up on his Northside blonde girlfriend – _ex_ -girlfriend – though it’s been going down since she sent Jones’ best friend to break it off (and so maybe sad boy Jones getting the shit beaten up of him in the initiation, licking his cut lips and looking up at Sweet Pea with that fire he’s gotten so accustomed to in his eyes right after his breakup did something to Sweet Pea). He doesn’t know if Jones’ has moved on yet and the last thing Sweet Pea wants to be is someone’s rebound or casual fling. 

So Sweet Pea mutters his woes to Fangs and Toni whenever Jones is away. Fangs gets it, since he’s currently pining over the Keller kid who’s apparently still hung up over his ex who got spooked straight by his dad (there was a wild story there and Sweet Pea just kind of forced himself to forget about it because what the fuck kind of dad would torture his own kid like that? Someone who went through conversion therapy, of course), so they kind of pat each others’ backs and bang on about their unrequited crushes. Toni sympathises and tries to get Jones to hang out more with them (Sweet Pea), which is getting more and more often now that he’s part of the gang and his Northside friends have been ditching him. Jones’ sad boy vibes have been amplified but everything works out for Sweet Pea so he just says those Northsiders can stay fucked off. 

But _fuck_ , does Jones make it harder for Sweet Pea to hold these feelings in when he’s walking in with his slim waist out on the open and his long lean legs on display and his toned arms under that pretty fluffy thing he’s wearing over his tank top. His curly hair out without that dumb beanie he’s always wearing and hanging over his face, which, Jesus Christ, is looking even prettier than usual. His skin is dewy and soft and his cheeks are all blushed up and his eyes are all sparkly and doe and his lips are all full and sharp and dark and fuck, fuck, fuck, Toni you _really_ outdid yourself. Sweet Pea’s even willing to finally forgive her for making him wear that ugly polka dot dress back in seventh grade. 

Jones walks into Pop’s all shy and nervous like he isn’t the prettiest person in Riverdale, but he’s acting all cute like this so maybe Sweet Pea doesn’t mind it after all. He’s peering from under his long (longer, darker than usual, and they make his eyes look so much sexier and the green shine brighter) lashes and pursing his pretty red lips at everything, which sends sharp emotions straight to Sweet Pea’s stomach. 

Fangs throws a compliment at Jones and kicks Sweet Pea’s ankles to make him speak up instead of just stare like a fucking idiot. He barely gets a lame, “yeah. Not too bad, Jones,” out. 

But then Fangs starts fucking with him, hugging Jones and flirts with him. Jones looks up at Fangs with his confused doe eyes and his lips parted open, his long neck curved up and exposed for Sweet Pea to pathetically stare at. He knows Fang’s teasing him, riling him up, he knows. But Sweet Pea’s a weak boy and bites anyway. 

“What,” he snaps, “you like pretty boys, now?” 

And before he can linger on him letting slip the fact that he thinks Jones’ very pretty, Jones looks and blushes at him, adorably embarrassed by the compliment. And you know what, he doesn’t hate being called pretty, so Sweet Pea will take it as a win. 

Fangs just grins bigger and pulls Jones into his chest like the little shit he is. “And if I do?” He sneers with an eyebrow raised, “What are you gonna do about it, Sweets?” 

Sweet Pea feels his fists ball up and his jaw clench. He _isn’t_ going to fall for this. He is not. He lets out a sigh and just says, “whatever,”. He grudgingly stares at some cars out front. There were three cars parked along with their four bikes, he notices uselessly. He hears Fangs exclaim in glee, something about Jones, crush, whatever. He shoots his glare back at him, because he really needs to shut the fuck up. Even kicks his leg a bit. 

Sweet Pea takes a glance at Jones, who was staring at him with this odd look in his eyes. Kind of sad and pouty and slumped in Fangs’ arm. That sends Sweet Pea into panic for some reason and just kicks Toni out of the booth while muttering something about going to the bathroom. 

_Coward_ , he repeats as he scurries to the privacy of the bathroom. Jones gives him a sad face and he’s running away? The boy was really fucking with Sweet Pea. And listen, Sweet Pea’s usually confident with his flirting, takes pride in it actually. Never one to shy away from anyone he’s taking interest in. But Jones pouts and bats his eyes a couple times and Sweet Pea needs to take a fucking break to catch a breather? Coward, coward, coward, Sweet Pea. 

In the end he does take a piss anyway, just to calm his damn nerves. He washes his hands and walks out, feeling pretty cool headed and plastering a smirk he knows he looks good with. If Jones is going to play the cute shy boy type, well, Sweet Pea just needs to fall back into his flawless bad boy plan. 

Except when he gets out he sees Mantle and Clayton at their table, and Clayton’s leering down at Jones. He walks, already frowning, but once he hears what Clayton said to Jones, fucking harassing him like that, he just stomps over and roughly grabs the back Clayton’s shirt, who had been pulling Jones up by his shirt. 

Sweet Pea flips Clayton to him, glowering down at him. Being the tallest student in Riverdale High and possibly even the whole town has its perks, intimidating asshole Bulldogs high up on the list.

He shoves his face close to Clayton, feeling himself about to fucking snarl at him and demands, “what the fuck are you doing to him?” 

Clayton doesn’t answer and Mantle pulls Clayton and Sweet Pea releases his grip to glare at both of them now. Mantle tries to size him up, _Sweet Pea_ , and he almost laughs at the attempt. Might have finally caved Mantle’s face in if Pop had not intervened. 

So Sweet Pea snarls one last time at Mantle before saying, “you better fuck off before I mess up your face.” 

And truly, Sweet Pea was about to let them go peacefully, because he respects Pop enough to not do shit like this in his place and in front of other customers. Maybe even make himself look good to Jones while he’s at it, managing his temper. But then Mantle runs his fucking mouth and says something about “serpent trash” while walking away and Sweet Pea stops himself a little too late. He huffs one hot breath before lashing for Clayton’s shoulders, who’s still near him then. 

He grips a bit too hard and Sweet Pea honestly doesn’t want to cause trouble. Then he remembers what Clayton just said to Jones and he’s angry again. So he scowls at him, “the fuck do you think you’re going? After that shit you said to Jones. Fucking apologise or I’ll take you outside, Clayton. Nobody to stop us there.” He flashes his teeth and furrows his brows. 

Clayton stands there, eyes wide like a deer with its neck in a lion’s jaws. Or serpent. He purses his lips and looks at Jones. He gives a sorry excuse of an apology, but Jones nods anyway like the nice guy he is, so he growls one last time and shoves him away. Fuck them. Ruining today, fuck them. 

The others start sitting down, but he’s still pretty pissed, so he looks at Jones to calm himself down. He stares at him, then at his crumpled shirt. Clayton ruined that, Sweet Pea’s mind very unhelpfully supplies. Sweet Pea, because he really can’t help himself, reaches out and smooths the sheer cloth over Jones’s chest, feeling the warmth of his skin through the thin cloth, just below his collarbone. He pulls away before he loses his fucking mind and keeps his fucking hand there and sits down, now taking the aisle seat. Directly in front of Jones. 

Jones picks up his food and Sweet Pea just kind of dumbly stares at his hands. Slender and long fingers, perfect for typing, he once said. Honestly, Sweet Pea can think of two more things those fingers can be perfect for. 

There was a nudge on his foot, all of a sudden, and he flinches. He thinks he said his thoughts out loud or Jones was about to initiate some thankful footsie with him. Neither, turns out, as he looks at Jones’ own shocked flushed face and hears Toni and Fangs’ laughs. They must have nudged his and Jones’ feet at the same time, trying to startle them, the little shits. So he glares at Fangs, who he’s sure was the one who tapped his foot, and kicks his. 

Sweet Pea picks up a fry and landed his eyes back in front of him. Jones is looking and smiling at him with such softness, the precious boy, that Sweet Pea can’t help but smile back, because he’s fucking whipped, he realises. Well, he thinks, there goes his bad boy plans. They continue the rest of their lunch like that, sending each other stealing glances and shy smiles in the middle of whatever conversation is going on.

They pay and leave not long after. They’ve decided to go to Fangs’ to hang out and watch some movies. He doesn’t have any snacks or popcorn and none of them do either, so they stop at the grocery store right where the Northside begins, the only decent grocery store in Riverdale if you’re looking for more than just bread, milk, bananas, some beer, and cigarettes. It’s a short ride, less than three minutes, and they pull up at the parking lot. They get off, about to walk in. 

Toni stops them, saying, “we don’t all need to go in,” she gives Fangs a look, her lips slightly curled. “Fangs and I’ll just give you two our money. You go in.” 

Sweet Pea stares at Toni, kind of thankful because he’s able to spend some time along with Jones. She’s a scheming little shit, and Sweet Pea’s willing to bet she does have snacks at her place. But this was a chance, and Sweet Pea and Jones have never spent any time alone. Well, they do have a history of hostility towards each other (building tension, Sweet Pea will say instead). 

But today Jones just shrugs, takes the money and shoves them in his back pocket. He looks at Sweet Pea and nods his head to the door. “Come on.” Must be all that smiling back at Pop’s, Sweet Pea thinks.

Sweet Pea salutes to his friends, who just smirk and stick their tongues out, and follows Jones on his heels. When they enter, the employee at the door does a double take, mostly at Sweet Pea, and usually this would have elicited some hostile response from him, like a glare or a snarl, or even stepping close to the guy’s personal space just to make him more uncomfortable. 

But Sweet Pea’s in a good mood right now, so he lets that slide. Besides, they must have been a sight. Pretty, soft Jones with his nice curls and puffy blouse, and there’s Sweet Pea following close, big and broad with his worn out Serpent jacket on, towering over everybody in this store, he’s confident to say. 

Jones turns to him, looking oblivious to the heads that are turning to them. “There aren’t a lot to pick up, so let’s just stay together,” he says staring up at Sweet Pea with those eyes of his and what’s Sweet Pea gonna say? No? 

Sweet Pea nods and puts his hands in his jacket pockets, gingerly walking along Jones’ side. They do turn more heads. Some little kids in the chocolate aisle stare up at Sweet Pea in some sort of wonder. Some middle aged mothers side eye both Sweet Pea and Jones, probably for different reasons; Sweet Pea just sends a glare at them, and it gets them to look away hurriedly. Some teenagers Sweet Pea recognises from school pause and stare at Jones and they, Jones notices; he crosses his arms and walks faster to get out of their sight, Sweet Pea sends another glare to fuck them off. He takes a good look at each of them, and if on Monday there’s some shit going around about Jones looking pretty around town he knows who to look for. In the chips aisle where Jones and he were headed, there were more teenagers but this time they’ve got their eyes on Sweet Pea. He could feel their eyes on him and hear their hushed gushing, and maybe if his eyes aren’t already on Jones he’d turn and flash them a charming smirk, maybe even chat them up for a while. 

But now he’s looking at Jones frowning between the barbeque flavoured chips and the sour onion flavoured chips. From above him, Sweet Pea can see his lips pursed a little, in adorable concentration. 

He smiles and stands a bit closer, the sides of his hips touching Jones’. “Sour onion’s better,” he says, while casually placing his arm on Jones’ shoulder. 

He sees Jones take a glance at him, close now, and huffs a small breath. “I’m deciding which flavours to take. We only have $12. A bag’s $3 each and popcorn’s $5 each. We can only take two bags and I’m deciding which is a flavour everyone will like.”

Sweet Pea raises his eyebrow. “Hold on, Jones. I’ve got–” he pauses to take out his wallet and check its sad contents. He counts his bills and takes count of his groceries for the week, which left him with, “–three extra dollars.”

Jones gives a small smile at him, and Sweet Pea could tell he was getting pretty excited. “So let’s get our sour onions?” He says, but he’s already reaching for the bag.

Sweet Pea bites the inside of his cheeks to stop himself from grinning out, because, he screams inside, _their_ sour onions. They’re gonna sit next to each other and share a bag of chips while watching movies. And Jones wants to. 

Sweet Pea can’t help but melt around Jones, though, his arm wrapped around his shoulders and he’s got some of his weight on Jones. Like this he notices the minty scent of Jones’ shampoo and he catches himself before outright sniffing him like a fucking creep. Instead, he says, maybe a little breathier than he’d like, “whatever you want, Jones.” 

Jones looks around the shelves, doesn’t move from under Sweet Pea’s hold. He points to the big sour onion bag, $4. He looks (up, Sweet Pea thinks gleefully. Truly, he thanks his shitty dad for at least giving him his height) at Sweet Pea, “what if we get two big bags, popcorn, then drinks? There should be a $2 one here.” 

Sweet Pea stares down at Jones, and now if he looks carefully, he can see his thick lashes fluttering about and the glitter on his eyelids catching the light. His lips, the colour of whatever lipstick Toni put on him, has mostly faded, but Sweet Pea supposes Jones just has the prettiest lips because they’re still pink and lovely. 

He shrugs, just saying again, “whatever you want, Jones.” 

Jones pauses and just looks up at him. And now suddenly something has changed, Jones a little tense and maybe even nervous. Sweet Pea raises an eyebrow as to question him, but Jones flickers his eyes to his lips and Sweet Pea just thinks, _oh_. 

Sweet Pea glances around them to make sure nobody’s around. There isn’t anybody in the aisle with them. There are voices around them, but frankly, Sweet Pea thinks they can go fuck themselves if they have a problem because he’s finally about to kiss the boy he’s been pining after for months now. 

He looks down at Jones again, still under his arm, looking almost too pretty and innocent for his own good. Sweet Pea knows this won’t be his first kiss, though. He leans down and brings his arm in to curl Jones closer to Sweet Pea. Jones blinks at him, eyes half lidded and lips parted. He’s breathing on Sweet Pea’s lips and then closes his eyes and tilts his head up. Sweet Pea chuckles and closes the distance. 

Jones is soft. Soft like the rest of him and still tastes like Pop’s sweet vanilla milkshake, and Sweet Pea is about to just fucking melt right there and then. He brings his other hand to Jones’ jaw, thumb swiping his cheek softly. Then Jones turns his body and his hands are on Sweet Pea’s face, pulling him even closer and Sweet Pea has to shift his face to adjust for this new angle. Jones sighs into Sweet Pea and slides his hands down to hold either side of his neck. Sweet Pea brings his hand up to cradle the back of Jones’ head and the other down to his waist. He has to stop himself from licking Jones’ bottom lip, because this is not the fucking place, dammit. He shifts his lips again, moving their bodies so Jones is now pressed between Sweet Pea and the shelves, pressing little kisses while so, and Jones lets out these soft little breathy giggles and arches his back so he’s pressed closer to Sweet Pea. 

Sweet Pea has to lean away before anything else happens because wouldn’t it be awkward to walk around the store with a boner? He pulls away but keeps his hands on Jones, and Jones sighs at the separation. They stare at each other for what felt like an hour. Sweet Pea stares at the way Jones’ eyes twinkle bright green when he moves them, then at the way his lashes brush against his reddened cheeks with every blink and the splatter of dark brown moles all over his face and neck, then at his dark red lips shiny and plush after the kiss. 

Sweet Pea smiles at him, feeling loose and lightheaded and weirdly happy. 

Jones huffs through a smile and whispers, “we have to get popcorn.” 

Sweet Pea scoffs and moves his hand back down to Jones’ cheek, rubbing it softly. “Fuck them,” he says with all seriousness. All Sweet Pea wanted to do is sit them both down, Jones’ legs on top of his, and make out. Fuck, he wants to suck on Jones’ tongue, god fucking dammit. 

Jones laughs again, always lovely, and presses a kiss on Sweet Pea’s lips one more time before pulling away for good, resting his head on the shelf behind him. Sweet Pea sighs, and for a second he forgot they were in a grocery store, probably with people walking by them while they were kissing. He can’t bring himself to feel embarrassed though, because they finally kissed, and _Jones_ made the first move. Sweet Pea did not think he would be brave enough to do it in public though, but he guesses his whole body physically blocking the rest of the world from him wasn’t really that public. 

“They’re waiting outside for us,” 

Sweet Pea sighs and rolls his head back. He looks back at Jones, eyes all soft and his smile a little lazy. “You sure you don’t want to just go home ourselves?” He asks. He rubs the thumb on Jones’ waist in circles. 

Jones shuffles and pushes off the shelves and into the middle of the aisle. Sweet Pea sighs as Jones chuckles, “we don’t want to stand them up. Don’t forget the big sour onions.” 

He grabs a bag and when he joins Jones again, he’s also got a bag of salted chips. Sweet Pea takes it from him and drapes his free arm around Jones’ shoulders and they walk to find a pack of butter popcorn and a litre bottle of cola. They go to check them out and leave, Toni and Fangs waiting outside sitting on their bikes and on their phones. 

Once they see Sweet Pea and Jones approaching, Fangs groans a bit dramatically. “Finally,” he reaches up to stretch, “you took fucking forever.” 

Sweet Pea bites back a smile as he peeks at Jones, who was also doing the same. Sweet Pea releases his hold on Jones and stores the plastic bag under his seat. 

“Did you get a plastic bag?” Toni asks. 

“Obviously,”

“Didn’t you bring one of your reusable bags?” 

Sweet Pea straightens up and raises an eyebrow at her, “I forgot, Toni.” 

Toni rolls her eyes and puts her helmet back on. “Just give me the bag when we’re home,” she says as she revs the engine back on.

Sweet Pea looks at Jones, sitting on his bike putting his helmet on, and he feels a smile creep up on his face. Are they dating now? Sweet Pea doesn’t know. But it seems like Jones likes him back, and for now he’s pretty satisfied with that. Maybe soon they’ll kiss again, maybe tonight in Sweet Pea’s trailer because FP is home, maybe they’ll talk about what they are before then. But right now Sweet Pea still feels his lips tingling and his heart beating a little faster than usual and Jones is looking at him over his shoulder with his pretty smile on and he’s biting his lip, so Sweet Pea’s content.

**Author's Note:**

> Ive been kissed once and it wasn’t that good but writing the supermarket scene made me want to get kissed but I’m in quarantine with my family so. 
> 
> Tbh i feel like these two chapters were written by two different people lmao. 
> 
> Anyways, please leave kudos and comments! It would mean the world to me 💕 please tell me if there’s there are any mistakes. Anyways thank you for reading 💕


End file.
